


The Shade Knife

by Discet



Series: Artifacts Arc [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Gen, Part 1, Post-Canon, Start of Next School Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-24 09:45:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13808625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Discet/pseuds/Discet
Summary: A new school year with old friends, old enemies, and new mysteries.While Marinette grapples with old rivals at school, Ladybug and Chat Noir face off against a new villain with a... different agenda to say the least. What makes this villain stand out from their past akumatized rogue's gallery?The legacy of the Miraculous' stretches back centuries. Could it be catching up to our heroes now?





	1. Thief in the Night

“ _Today is a sad day for the Museum of Medieval Art here in Paris today. It  has been discovered that in the last few days a forgery of several key artifacts from the new visiting exhibit of Islamic was exchanged with the originals. Among the artifacts stolen were a vase, a ceremonial robe, and an and ornamented knife. If you have any seen or heard about these missing artifacts, please come forward to the police at once with your information._

_The news has upset several museums throughout the Western Asia who had entrusted their pieces to the museum here in Fra-"_

 

The channel changed as Sabine huffed in disgust, “How terrible. I hope that thief gets whats coming to him” she said with a shake of her head, getting back to rolling down the dough for the morning creascants.  

“I’m sure they will honey” Tom leaned over and gave her a light kiss on the cheek “but try not to bake angry. You know it always gets into the dough.” he said going back to finishing up the special batch of macaroons his daughter had requested.

Sabine took a deep breath to calm herself before shaking her head, “You’re right, not worth my energy” she shook out her arms to let out the tension. “Marinette is the cream almost done?” she asked with a half turn to her daughter, who was bravely combating the hum of the egg beater. Doing her best to hold onto the bowl and not send the fresh whipped cream across the whole kitchen.

“Al-lm-mos-st don-nne!” she responded letting the beaters come to a slow stop and testing the consistency of the cream. “There I think that’s good,” she said with a smile. Sabine walked over dipping a fresh spoon in and testing the fluffy cream herself.

“This is perfect Marinette! Thank you!” her mother quickly confiscated the bowl before her daughters natural clumsiness could spill the lovely cream she had made. “It’s very generous of you to wake up early to help us.”

“No problem!” Marinette said brightly. She really did like helping her parents when she could… and it didn’t hurt to be in their good graces when she inevitably ended up having to break curfew or miss class.

“Perfect timing too,” Tom said boxing up the dozen macaroons “here you are.” he said with a smile and Marinette came taking them with excitement, “ now try not to drop them all this year sweetie,” he admonished with a loving smile.  

Marinette pouted a little “I won’t drop-” her mother and father looked at her with loving but skeptical expressions, “... I’ll try not to drop them” she said sagging her shoulders.

The bell at the front of the bakery rang signaling their first customer of the day. Sabine moved to take off her apron, turning to Marinette, “You should go and get ready dear, thank you for your help!” she said quickly before heading to the front of the bakery.

“Thank you!” Tom said as Marinette was already heading upstairs to her room.

“Sure thing, thank you for the macaroons!” she said before disappearing upstairs to get ready for the first day of school.

* * *

 

Marinette jogged out of her family's bakery to make the short trip to school. Her hands almost crushing the delicate box of macaroons as she focused on not dropping them this year.

“Why are you so nervous about the macaroons Marinette?” the squeaky voice of Tikki asked from her shoulder.

“I bought a whole box of them last year but I ended up dropping almost all of them before I actually got to share any.”

“But you live right next to the school!” she said turning back to the bakery just behind them.

“I know Tikki” she said in a slightly depressed tone.

“But then how did you drop all-”

“I know Tiki” she sighed.

“Wow. You really were clumsy before we met weren’t you?”

“You say that like I’m not anymore...”

The crosswalk turned green and Marinette hurried across to get to class before everyone else.

* * *

 

Marinette felt a ping of pride at getting all the macaroons to the classroom successfully. As students came in she handed them out to each and every one of them, wishing them a happy new school year. She kept an eye on the depleting pastries making sure there was one left over for Alya.

“These are delicious Marinette!” Rose complimented with glee.

“Delicious! I’ll need to drop by your families bakery more often” Nino said polishing off the last of his own macaroon.

“This is great. Thanks Marinette.” Adrian said with that beautiful smile that sent Marinette’s heart racing.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” the voice called out from the entrance of the classroom. Marinette groaned internally as she turned to see Chloe come marching into the classroom, Sabrina close on her designer heels.  She plucked a macaroon out of the box without pause inspecting it for flaws.

“Hey Chloe. Please. Take one.” Marinette said stiffly before offering the box to Sabrina, who mouthed a silent ‘thank you’ before stepping back behind Chloe.

“Already campaigning for re-election I see. Didn’t know you were so worried about how much people like you.” she smirked, “Not that it isn’t warranted.” she chuckled in that obnoxious laugh she’s had since 6th grade.

Marinette took a short breath. After a years worth of pep talks from Alya and the class slowly pushing back against Chloe’s iron fisted rule, she was able to remain calm, “No, just trying to do something nice for everyone Chloe. To start off the new school year right.” she said managing to keep a calm smile on her face. She had learned was far more infuriating for the blonde tyrant than getting upset at her.

“Hmph, I’ll be the judge of that!” Chloe declared while Sabrina was already fishing through her bag for a tissue. Chloe took the tiniest bite of the pastry before immediately blanching and spitting it out into the offered tissue “How pedestrian. I think I will go ahead and enjoy the hotels _award winning_ bakers instead.” she said, depositing the tissue and remains of the cookie into the box. Then she sauntered past Marinette, casually bumping into her shoulder.

Marinette scrambled desperately as the box slipped from her grasp, falling to the ground  and spilling.

“Whoops. Sorry.” Chloe said her voice feigning genuineness as she sat down.

Marinette's classmates looked down at the box in sympathy. Ivan who still had half of his own Macaroon sheepishly offered it back with a frown. Marinette thanked him for the offer but waved it off. She reached down trying to to salvage at least one macaroon from the box that hadn’t spilled to the floor.

Alya came running into the classroom just as the bell rang out, “Here! Here! Not Late!” she said out of breath. Alya looked out at the others in class who looked at her a little guilty. A few of the boys helped clean up the remains of the macaroons with Marinette dumping the box in the trash. Alya looked sympathetically at Marinette, quickly gathering what must have happened “Chloe?” she surmised.

Marinette nodded rolling her eyes.

“Girl it's a miracle you haven't been akumatized yet.” she held out her hand to help her up from the ground. “You must have the patience of a saint.”

Marinette shrugged secretly feeling elated at the compliment. Alya had done wonders for her confidence, both in and out of costume. As she stood back up she offered up the last unsullied macaroon to her friend as they walked to their own seats, “Saved you one.”

Alya took it gingerly “Oh, don’t mind if I do!” she was about to take a bite before stopping “Did _you_ actually manage to get one?” Marinette shook her head. Without a second thought Alya took the macaroon and broke it in half offering the other half back to Marinette, who took it with a knowing smile. Alya held up her half in a toast, “to another year of friendship.”

Marinette, with a chuckle, ‘clinked’ their  halves together before popping them in their mouths. It was amazing a year had already gone by. The days have seemed to fly by ever since Alya saved her a year ago. The akuma attacks definitely had something to do with that, but thanks to her friend, even the mundanity of school’s day to day seemed to just pass in a flash.

After they finished Alya looked around “Huh. I wonder where Ms. Bust-”

Their teacher as if summoned suddenly came bustling into the room at her ‘not-technically-a-run’ jog. Her hair and blouse were slightly wrinkled compared to her usual smart and professional appearance. “Sorry! Sorry! The printer was being disagreeable, let’s get started with role call.” she said with a smile, tucking a loose strand of red hair behind her ear.

* * *

 

Ladybug and Chat Noir went patrolling around the city on their usual route. They had already had an akuma attack earlier that week, so they weren’t expecting anything much out of the night. They had escorted a few people to subways or apartments, Chat had saved a cat stuck in a tree, and they both had to stop a few drunks from starting up their cars. It was all in all a pretty calm night.

At the moment they were taking a quick break near the base of The Louvre’s pyramid.

“So, school started for you yet?” Chat asked twirling his baton aimlessly above him.

“Yeah. Just recently actually,” it was weird knowing Chat in both of her persona’s. She tried to keep things pretty vague when she was Ladybug. That way she could speak more freely as Marinette without giving much away.

“Really? Which school do you go to?” Ladybug rolled her eyes at Chat’s flirty tone. “If you tell me I could drop by, and everyone will know your friends with the coolest cat in town.” he slamming his staff down and flexing his free arm.

“I think I’ll pass; I don’t need my classmates pity” she teased and Chat faked a wound over his heart.

“Meowch!” he said with an equally teasing smile.

The two chuckled and were about to go about their normal patrol when a soft popping noise sounded out across the city. They both looked to the source to see the bright red firework that shown above the city. “Looks like we have been summoned my lady.”

“Well let’s see what Agent Danton has for us tonight,” the two began zipping across the city at speed.

Last year, Mayor Bourgeois made a campaign promise to set up a special police task force to assist Ladybug and Chat Noir in their efforts to defend the city from Hawk Moth. The promise had all but sealed his reelection and so he got the task force formed as soon as possible.

Task Force A were equipped and trained to help escort civilians away from akuma attacks and cordon off the area. They even worked out a series of flares and other signals to pinpoint the location of an akuma so the heroes could find them faster. Most importantly however, they had started on narrowing down the identity of Hawk Moth after the two young heroes admitted to having no idea where to start.

The firework that just popped was signal that occasionally went off during their regular patrol hours. It meant the task force wanted to meet, but that there was no immediate threat to worry about. The two heroes made good time to the rooftop of the police station the force worked out of. There were a half dozen men waiting on top, most in more militarized uniform of the Judicial Police, and one other in the more casual looking uniform of the Parisian police force. All across the rooftop were various tables with maps and folders weighed down with rocks. All of which were being shifted through and studied by the on call members of the task force.

Agent Danton stood on his own to the side. He was the head of the taskforce and the one that the two heroes most often worked with. He was a fairly stoic late twenty-something who always seemed to be wearing glasses in various states of disrepair. Tonight he had a pair of thin rimmed round glasses with a hairline crack on the right lens.

Chat landed a half second earlier and smiled a bit triumphant in their not really a race, race they had when a firework went up.

“Chat, Ladybug” Danton nodded in greeting. “Welcome, thank you for coming so promptly.”

“Well I was considering taking a cat-nap but I figured it couldn’t hurt to swing by.”

Danton took the pun in stride, only barely wincing before addressing the both of them, “Well, down to business. Have either of you heard about the recent theft from the exhibit from the Museum of Medieval Art?”

“Yes,”

“No,”

Ladybug and Chat answered in sequence.

“Well then Chat, a few days ago an exhibit on Rashid ad-Din Sinan and his order was broken into. A few key historical objects were stolen and replaced with forgeries. Additional robberies have happened every night since, we have reason to believe all were committed by the same thief.”

Ladybug and Chat looked at each other and then back to the Agent kind of skeptically, Ladybug spoke up first “Well, not that we don’t want to see a thief brought to justice, but isn’t this like, regular police work?” When the task force formed a strong line was drawn between what the young heroes could and couldn’t do. They were deputized to protect citizens if they saw a crime happening, or if an akuma was involved. They were to keep away from active investigation of mundane crimes.

“Indeed, Officer Terry?” the Agent turned to the one man in the normal police uniform. He had been standing at attention since the two heroes had shown up.

The officer stepped forward his face breaking out into a big smile “Ladybug and Chat Noir, it is an honor to meet you! My daughter is your biggest fan Ladybug and my son loves you Chat Noir, could I get your autographs for them?” he had two strips of paper and pens for the two heroes.

“Sure,”

“Of course”

The two heroes took the strips of paper and scribbled down a quick signature.

Agent Danton looked frustrated, he often was at a lose for those in the police force who put the two heroes on a pedestal. He prefered to think of them as equals in the war against the akuma. This was a tone difficult to maintain with half the police force was utterly enamored with the heroes, “ _Officer Terry._ ” he said through clenched teeth.  

“Oh, uh, right.” he shifted his voice to be more professional “Last night, during my night patrol I happened to be outside one of the city banks when the alarms were set off.” he explained while carefully tucking the two signed pieces of paper into his wallet. “When I got inside I caught sight of the thief. He had this long shiny knife with engravings on it.” he estimated the length of the blade with his hands.

“One of the artifacts stolen.” Danton explained.

“What did he look like?” Ladybug asked

“Dunno, unfortunately he had a mask on. I yelled at him to stop, but he suddenly slashed the dagger through the air it created this like… ball of shadows?” he said trying to parse his words.

“Ball of shadows?” Chat asked.

“Yeah, kind of like smoke. Anyways he jumped into it it and when the smoke cleared, he was gone.” he said with a shrug. “I tried looking for him, but it was like he had just vanished. Poof.”

Ladybug frowned “Well that definitely sounds like an akuma, but what could Hawk Moth be planning? He hasn’t used his power for petty crimes before...” she said with a frown.

“Maybe he’s hard for cash?” Chat offered.

“In any case,” Danton stepped in, “akuma or not, this seems to be something your better equipped to handle. Can we count on your assistance once again?” he asked with an approving smile.

“You can count on us sir!” Chat said with a wide grin.

“Sure thing, you tell us where to go and we’ll take him down.” Ladybug confirmed.

There was a sudden buzz from the radio left on a nearby table “- _ch- hello? Task Force A?_ ”

Agent Danton moved to the radio quickly, taking up the receiver, “Task Force A here. Report.”

“A silent alarm has been tripped at the Bank of France. We’ve been staked out all night, so we think its the thief we’ve been looking for.”

Agent Danton turned to the two heroes, “Looks like you’ll get your chance sooner than I hoped.”

* * *

 

The two heroes arrived at the ornate building of the Bank of France in no time. After a quick scouting there weren’t any clear points where the building had had been broken into. Which made sense, if he had a knife that could make him disappear, he could have walked in during day hours and then stayed hidden all day before he struck.

“Okay Chat, I think you’ll need to make us an entrance” she whispered and he nodded, carefully cutting a hole into a window for them to squeeze through. They skulked around the halls of the building until they came across the only other soul in the building. He was just stuffing a trash bag full of Euros. He was wearing very… mundane clothes.

When the officer had mentioned a mask she had imagined something flamboyant or over the top thief outfit... but it looked like a normal ski mask over casual wrinkly clothing.

They snuck up on the man from two sides before jumping out dramatically. “We’ve caught you akuma!” she announced.

The man nearly jumped out of his skin, staggering backward and drawing out his knife. “Ladybug? Chat Noir!?” it wasn’t exactly off for an akuma to call their names out dramatically. However, it was usually in villainous excitement instead of fear.

“We’re here to free you from Hawk Moth and stop your one man crime wave!” Chat announced and the man looked between the two of them before drawing himself up taller.

“Y-Yes! I am the- the Cat Burglar! Here to steal your miracles for Hawk Moth.”

Ladybug looked at the man confused, “Our… Miraculous’?”

“Y-Yes! Those will be mine. I knew my crimes would draw you out!” he said dramatically pointing at the both of them. “now you may have expected me to strike here tonight, but! Did you expect? THIS!?” the man drew his blade and cut through the air. The two heroes dodged away expecting some kind of attack.

Sure enough the man became wreathed in a shadowy aura before disappearing from sight.

“Be careful Chat, he’s invisible now!” she said and the two went back to back, expecting some kind of an attack from the shadows.

A moment passed. Then another… and another.

“Is he trying to get us to let down our guard?” Chat whispered.

“Don’t let him...” Ladybug honed her senses, listening for any light footfall to give away the villains position.... but there were none. Then a full minute passed

“Maybe try Lucky Charm?” Chat suggested.

Ladybug nodded, tossing her yoyo in the air “Lucky Charm!” she shouted expecting a bright flash of light with an item to show a path to victory. But her yoyo only spun in the air, falling back down to her hand.

“Is that uh… supposed to happen?”

“No-no! Tikki said the only reason lucky charm wouldn’t work is if there was… no… danger.” Ladybug scanned the room indignantly “Did- did he just run away?” no attack? No Banter? No grab for the miraculous’

Chat stood up from his tense crouch. “Well I’ll give him this much” Chat said, his tone surprised “I _didn’t_ expect that.”

Ladybug slapped the palm of her hand over her face.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter one.  
> So I'm trying a little something different with this series [The Artifact Arc]. My plan is for each fic to be roughly equivalent to an episode of the show. This particular 'episode' should just last the two chapters, of which this is the first. The whole series
> 
> I am rather excited for this series and I hope I can execute it as well as I think I can in my head. I hope I got most of the characterizations right. 
> 
> In any case I hope you enjoy this, I'll try to get part two of this up as soon as I can.


	2. Another Plane

Alya came running up to Marinette as she arrived at school “Girl, did you see this?” she had phone in hand and after a few precise taps she brought up a video. Agent Danton stood at the steps of the Bank of France. He was surrounded by reporters who had shoved up to his face. 

“ _ The task force sadly did not have complete information on the robber when we contacted the heroes. This led to Ladybug and Chat Noir to have an inaccurate understanding of their opponent. The task force takes full responsibility for his escape. _ ” 

The shot of the agent became frozen before getting tucked in the corner next to the newscaster, “ _ This was from the site of last nights robbery at the Bank of France. This and more tonight on Paris spotlight. In other news a philanthropist has been donating money to the local orphan- _ ”

Alya paused the video in disgust, “Can you believe this? Finally the people of Paris have a chance to give Ladybug and Chat Noir the support they deserve and-” she rewound the video till Danton took up the whole screen, “they put this clown in charge?”

Marinette felt a pang of guilt. She knew that the Agent was throwing himself under the bus for her and Chat’s sake. He believed that maintaining the faith of people of Paris had in their heroes was more important than the task forces pride. “I’m sure he’s doing his best...” she offered but Alya did not seem convinced. 

“Well it’s not good enough.” she shook her head, stuffing the phone in her pocket. “You know if I had the chance I would never screw up like this.”

“Sure, and all you would need is half a decade of experience as a cop!” she had a small mocking smile. 

Alya threw an arm around her friends neck pulling her in a friendly choke hold, “Was that sass?” she asked getting a giggle out of Marinette. Marinette pushed at her weakly and Alya let go. They walked silently up the stairs to their class, Alya looking increasingly concerned. “It’s really strange...”

“Hm? What is?” 

“Most of Hawk Moth’s victims don’t stop fighting until their cured. Why did this one run?”

“Whatever the reason, I’m sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will have it handled in no time.” Marinette assured.

“Well of course,” Alya shrugged, total confidence in the two heroes, “there was never any doubt about that.”

-

Ladybug really hoped they had this handled. 

This time the burglar had decided to strike a small art museum. Ladybug had been worried they might arrive too late but he seemed to be carefully preparing each pilfered piece for transport, which was taking a little longer than just stuffing a duffle bag full of money. He was humming, half singing the chorus as he went about his business in the stone lined room. 

It was a little unsettling to watch someone commit a crime in such a cheery mood. 

Ladybug turned to Chat dropping her voice to as low a whisper as she could, “ _ Okay Chat, I’ll distract him. When he goes for his knife I want you to use your staff to knock it out of his hands. _ ”

Chat nodded smiling giving a slight bow, “ _ As you wish my la- _ ” Chat’s voice, while quiet, had not been dropped to a whisper. He looked mortified as the spoken assurance started to echo faintly off the granite walls. Ladybug looked back at the robber who had startled to his feet. He zipped up his bag and drew his knife.

“Chat!” she scolded, vaulting over their hiding spot and grabbing at her yoyo.

“I didn’t think it would carry that far!” his voice was apologetic, but Ladybug only had eyes for the robber. 

He drew his blade and readied a slash. Ladybug spun her yoyo hoping to still stop his escape but even as she tossed it, she could see the smoky shade start to materialize. The yoyo passed straight through the shade as the man started to evaporate. She hissed under her breath, realizing their failure when she saw the thin coil of her yoyo start to be consumed by the smoke as well. It crawled up the length of the yoyo reaching her hand and started to consume her as well.

“Ladybug!” Chat shouted in near panic as the smoke overtook her head. 

The world suddenly became… hazy. Indistinct, like she was looking at everything from under the water of the pool. She looked down at her hands and found them to be made of the same smoky haze that had been summoned by the knife. 

Chat came rushing towards her and she held out her hand “I-I’m okay Chat, I think-” as she spoke he blew right through her smoke body. It felt very…  _ very  _ weird “Ugh….” she crossed her arms over her chest goosebumps crawling across her whole body. Realizing Chat had no way of seeing her she started to look around.

The world seemed the same but through an odd filter, all the artwork sat in their displays. What caught her attention however, was the other smoky figure in the room with her

The robber looked stunned by her intrusion. He and his clothes looked as smoky and vague as she hers did. The only thing on him that looked solid was the knife still clutched in his hand. As they made eye contact he turned tail and started to sprint towards the entrance.

“ _ Stop _ -” she stuttered her voice was almost muted, “ _ r-right there! _ ” she threw out her yoyo, hoping to trip up his escape. Unfortunately the empowered toy passed straight through his legs. She scowled and started to run after him, but no matter how hard she pumped her legs she lost ground. She felt slow, sluggish, her feet struggled to gain traction and the air resistance made it feel like she was wading through a bog waist deep. Meanwhile the burglar moved as naturally as in the real world. 

As they rounded the corner to the entrance she watched as his body simply phase through the front door and out to the street. Ladybug balked at the break in physics but braced herself as she came to the door as well, feeling no resistence as she passed straight through it

Sadly do to her slow pace once she was out she could not see hide nor hair of the man or where he went. 

What was interesting was that each streetlamp and car headlight cast a golden bright light. In their cones the world was normal, no haze or muddled colors. 

Ladybug walked towards the nearest streetlamp reaching out to touch the light. As her hand touched the light the smoke on her body dissipated in a rush, along with the world she had been in. Her body felt solid again as did everything around her.

She patted down her body, ensuring everything had made it back before taking a deep steadying breath.. 

No more jumping into strange smoke for me. 

“Ladybug!?” she turned around to see Chat running towards her from the museum, his face looked pale, “Where did you go?”

Chat ran from the entrance next to her, “Where did you go?”

“I don’t…. know?” she said with a shrug, “it was like I became a smoke creature of some kind… and the world became… indistinct? I could walk straight through walls but moving normally felt like moving through warm butter.” she said shaking her head, “it was… very disorienting.” she could actually feel the start of a headache coming on. “I came out as soon as I touched the light” she said gesturing to the streetlamp.

“Wow, talk about a  _ smokescreen _ .” he said and Ladybug groaned, this was not helping her headache. “So was he also there? Or were you alone?”

“Yeah, he must have more practice at it, cause he could move normally. That knife was normal though, it's definitely the source.”

“Oh! Is that the knife that was stolen a few days ago?” 

Chat and Ladybug stopped, turning suddenly to see the dedicated reporter Alya Cesaire standing with an eager smile and a recording phone in hand. 

“Alya?” Ladybug said surprised, “What are you doing out here?”

“One of my readers saw you two racing out here in a hurry. I live nearby so I decided to check it out.” she said with a shrug before pushing the phone back towards the two of them “So, did you fail to catch the thief again? Was it the fault of the Task Force again? Do you think that Hawk Moth is behind this?” 

“Alya, wait-” she wanted her to slow down, but that last question caught her off guard, “Wait, what do you mean about Hawk Moth? Do you think he isn’t involved?”

“Who else could this be? Normal people can’t turn into smoke creatures.” Chat said crossing his arms.

“Well, he doesn’t seem interested in stealing your miraculouses even though he probably has the best chance of getting them of any villain so far.” she shrugged.

“What do you mean?” 

“Well… it sounds like he could stalk you both in that shadow place right? He could just follow one of you until you detransform,” she shrugged. “Then jump out and grab your miraculous.”

Chat and Ladybug were silent for a moment considering that

“Well there goes any sleep I was going to get,” Chat said running a hand through his hair.

“But again,” Alya said grabbing their attention again, “he hasn’t  _ done _ that. So he seems to have another agenda in mind.” she held up the phone “So, again, could this be the work of a new supervillain?”

Ladybug groaned, leaning her back against the pole for support. They have had enough trouble just combating Hawk Moth. “Yes, maybe. He hasn’t acted, or really looked like any akuma we’ve fought before.”

“No style whatsoever” Chat clarified for Alya.

“No obsession either. Or none he has declared anyway. The only thing in common between his targets is that they’re filled with expensive things.” Ladybug said. 

Alya nodded, clearly already forming an article for the Ladyblog in her head. “interesting, interesting. Did he have a name? I was thinking The Phantom Thief if he didn’t.” knowing Alya everything would be up on the Ladyblog before the end of the night, which made this next part hard to say. 

“Alya you can’t publish this...” Ladybug said regret already laced in her voice. 

“Why not?”

“Why not?”

Both Alya and Chat Noir said in unison, Alya with suspicion and Chat with surprise. 

“Because, we haven't actually  _ caught  _ him yet.” Ladybug said scowling at Chat Noir and his big mouth. “If he sees the blog he might decide it's become too dangerous to keep going and go into hiding, which would mean losing any chance to get what he’s stolen back.”

“But this is the biggest scoop I’ve had in months, all the news stations are still scrambling to find any lead on this story!” she said her voice reluctant. She clutched her phone to her chest, as if they might snatch the phone and recording from her. 

“I know but it would be a big help if you would keep a cap on it till we catch him...” she said, seeing a frown form on Alya’s lips. Her desire to help the heroes at conflict with wanting to inform her readers. “We’d owe you one.” Ladybug offered temptingly.

That pushed her towards help and she grumbled a bit before nodding, “Okay, okay. But after this is over, I want an exclusive interview with the both of you, and I want you both to be totally honest during it.” she said “No vague answers I want to know what you do.”

Ladybug grimaced, it seemed fair but, “Well like I’ve told you before Alya, we can’t reveal-”

Alya shook her head, waving her hand “I know, I know. Nothing about your identities. What I’m looking for is more about what's going on.” 

“With the thief?” Chat asked curious.

“With everything” Alya said, spreading her arms wide “For over a year now, I’ve been piecing together things from myths and lore and historical accounts, but it’s all been guesswork” she explained, the look in her eyes becoming serious, “I think I, and the people of Paris, deserve to know some of what's going on in our city.” her voice brokered no argument. 

Ladybug looked to Chat for input but he only shrugged leaving it up to her. Ladybug looked to her friend. She could tell trying to strong arm her heroes like this was a nerve wracking experience for Alya. Most would only see the stone faced determination but Marinette saw the worry underneath, that she may have crossed some line. 

The truth was though... she hadn’t. Living with the knowledge that saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could put lives in danger was bad enough. Living like that with only a vague idea why with it was happening,  _ and no _ way to fight back must be terrifying. 

She took a short breath, “Okay, but we won’t answer if we think it will put anyone in danger.”

A look of relief and excitement washed away the gruff gruff attitude she had been putting up, “Really, you’ll do it?”

Chat put on one of his ‘charming’ smiles, “It would be a pleasure. Hopefully it will go better than the last interview we had”

“Well I sure hope so, I almost got thrown in the river that time.” she said with a chuckle.

Marinette swallowed hard at that. The memory of Alya being dropped in the Seine still haunted her dreams some nights. She tried to keep the disquiet out of Ladybug’s voice, “After all the times you helped us? Only seems fair.”

-

The bell for the end of school rang and Alya nearly sprung from her chair stuffing book after book into her bag. “I think I’m going to see if I can interview them separately so I can see their differing answers to things.”

“Isn’t that like, an interrogation technique?” Marinette said with a raised brow. 

“I mean, technically. But I don’t thinks its inapplicable to an interview,” Alya shrugged.

Marinette shook her head. Alya had spent the whole day going through every aspect of her interview with the two superheroes. She had been writing and revising her planned questions all day. She had asked Marinette a few times if she thought a question was too personal. Marinette felt a little guilty getting all the questions early. It felt a little like she was cheating, but it was nice to dissuade some of the more intimate questions from the list.

As they packed up and walked out to the front of the school. Nino and Adrien were waiting. “Hey boys,” Alya called out steering Marinette towards them. 

“Hey Alya, Marinette!” Adrien said his friendly beautiful smile.

Marinette steeled herself. She was proud of herself, she was now able to talk to Adrien like a normal human after a year of friendship, “Hey, guys.”

“Yo,” Nino greeted, but there was something off about his smile, looking a little worried. “Alya, what happened? I thought we were gonna facetime last night.”

Alya looked surprised, “didn’t I tell you? I got a lead for the Ladyblog. I thought I sent you a message-”

“I didn’t one...” Nino stuffed his hands into his pockets. 

“No… no I remember I-” she fished out her phone going to her messages. “... I never actually sent it,” Alya winced, shaking her head. “Sorry Nino, really I didn’t forget.”

“It’s okay, I get how it can be sometimes” he didn’t sound okay.

Alya bit her lip, clearly feeling guilty, “want to walk home together?” she offered

That brought a smile to his face, “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Before taking his hand to walk home, Alya nudged her best friend in the side and gave her a side wink. “See you two tomorrow!” she said to Marinette and Adrian.

“Have a great day guys” Nino said giving a slight wave to them.

Marinette looked between her retreating pair of friends and Adrien, feeling like she had suddenly been thrown in the deep end. Adrien turned to her his bright emerald on her alone, “Hey Marinette, hows the start of the year treating you?”

“G-Good, I’m doing good, great! Just… just great.” she said bobbing her head in confirmation.

“That’s great” he spoke with that dreamy smile, “How was your summer? I feel like we barely got to see each other thanks to my schedule” he scratched at the back of his head looking a little guilty.

“What? No, it’s not your fault. You can’t help having such a crazy schedule!” she insisted waving her hands in denial “I-I mean I wasn’t able to make it to that date- I-I mean meetup at the movies!” stupid akuma. 

“Oh yeah, I ended up missing that too sadly. Hey maybe we could go together sometime.”

Marinette felt like her brain was going to overheat, as her brain tried to parse if this was a real offer to go on a date or another platonic offer

“Y-y--you and me-e-e go to the movies? Together? No one else?” she explained.

“Sure,” he nodded casually

Marinette started to descend into a stuttering incomprehensible mess.

_ Oh god, please anyone come and rescue me. _

“Adrikins!” 

_ Anyone else! _

Marinette with dread turned to see Chloe walking from the entrance of the school towards the both of them. 

“Hey Chloe!” Adrien greeted his old friend.

“hello...” Marinette said less enthusiastically.

“God, I can’t believe they're giving us homework for the first weekend! Isn’t that just awful? Poor Sabrina is gonna be up all weekend finishing it for us”

“You should really do your own homework Chloe” Marinette said, not for the first time feeling bad for her redheaded friend. 

“Who asked you?” Chloe said giving Marinette a withering look. 

“She’s right Chloe, I could help you study if it’s hard for you.” Adrien offered.

“Aw that’s so sweet of you Adrikins, we should totally have a study date soon.” Out of the corner of her eye Marinette could see Adrien nodding at her while looking at Chloe. A look of distaste came over Chloe’s face as she turned to face Marinette, “Okay Marinette Dupain-Cheng listen up. I am… sorry about knocking over your biscuits-”

“Macaroons?” she clarified.

“Whatever.” she said waving her fingers out dismissively. Adrien frowned at her and she tried to calm herself, “ _ Anyways. _ I’m sorry okay?  _ My bad. _ ” without waiting for a response, she turned back to Adrien expectantly. Adrien smiled and nodded in approval.

Marinette turned a little unbelievingly toward Adrien, but his face was bright and expectant. He still held hope that Chloe and the rest of his friends would all get along some day. She resisted rolling her eyes and turned back to Chloe who was looking at her reflection in a compact mirror, “it’s fine Chloe, accidents… happen. Thank you for your  _ totally _ sincere apology.” 

“Sure, great. Anyways I have places to be.” she snapped the mirror shut, looking back to Adrian “Have a good weekend Adrikins.” she waved, flirtily before marching off with Sabrina in toe. 

Adrien turned back to Marinette but a commanding voice interrupted whatever he planned to say “Adrien!” A call came from the street where Adriens bodyguard and the Agreste family secretary waited. “You’re scheduled time to ‘chat with friends afterschool’ is up. We need to go,” she adjusted her glasses, waiting expectantly.

“Okay!” he turned back to Marinette “I’ve got to go, but we should hang out sometime soon alright?” he said heading back to his car. 

“Alright… b-bye Adrien.” she waved after him and soon found herself alone at the front of the school. As she watched him get into the car, she silently came to the conclusion that the offer to see a movie was yet another platonic overture. 

Another chance to shift Adrien’s feelings squandered by her own awkwardness. A little downcast, she made the short trip to her home. Disappointment aside, she still had a lot of homework and a thief to catch.

-

Marinette stretched in satisfaction as she finished with her writing assignment. She looked to the clock, she still had a little while before her usual patrol time. She reached out for her sketchbook when her phone buzzed. She picked it up, Alya and her had been texting through most of the day.  

 

**Marinette:** Alya! How could you leave me alone with Adrien like that. 

**Alya:** Sorry girl, I thought you’d appreciate the opportunity! 

**Alya:** Honest 

**Marinette:** I sounded like such a dork

**Alya:** Well if it hasn’t chased him off yet. 

**Marinette:** Alya it’s not funny!

**Marinette:** Seriously you need to stop trying to force us together.

**Marinette:** It will happen when the time is right. 

**Alya:** Okay.

 

It had taken a half an hour for that last one. Marinette nodded to herself. Satisfied, she tried to busy herself with her sketchbook, but the short response started to irritate her. She picked up her phone.

 

**Marinette:** What do you mean ‘okay’?

**Alya:** I mean OKAY. I’ll stop meddling. 

**Marinette:** Really? That’s all?

**Alya:** Sure, but I was just trying to help

**Alya:** For the record

**Marinette:** You were like this before vacation too. Why?

**Alya:** Cause I’m worried for you girl. Why else? 

**Marinette:** But why though? What’s the hurry?

**Alya:** Because it’s been a year Marinette!

**Alya:** and Adrien still has no idea you like him.

**Alya:** I’m worried you’re gonna keep making excuses until the day we finish school

**Alya:** and regret not saying something sooner. 

**Marinette:** oh

**Alya:** I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable

**Alya:** I just want you to be happy Mari. You know that right?

 

Marinette sighed, feeling a bit guilty. It wasn’t Alya’s fault she couldn’t talk to Adrien like a normal person. 

 

**Marinette:** I know.

**Marinette:** Sorry. I’m just frustrated.

**Alya:** No worries girl. 

**Alya:** Anyways I got to go keep the twins from tearing the apartment apart. Have a good night.

 

Marinette leaned back in her chair feeling more disappointed in herself than anything. 

“A whole year huh...” She turned to where Tikki was dozing on the chaise chair. “Tikki, do you think I’m moving too slow with Adrien?” 

Tikki blunk awake floating up and stretching her tiny little arms, “I don’t know, do  _ you  _ think your moving too slow?” she mirrored back at her. 

“I… maybe? It has been a long time, and I do want to go out with him.”

“Well then, maybe you should ask him out.” the Kwami suggested as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

Marinette became flushed “wh-what? But what if he says no? Or what if he hates me and it ruins our friendship? What if he thinks I’m just some obsessed fangirl?” 

Tikki wisely did not glance at any of the posters of Adrien decorating her room. “Well… that is a risk, ” Tikki started, causing Marinette to slump in despair “ _ but _ most things worth having are. And Adrian doesn’t seem the type to make you regret it. He’s a good person. He might say no, but he wouldn’t hate you for it...” 

Marinette nodded, thinking on the last year she had experienced. Every interaction with Adrien had been special to her. But it had all been a one sided crush so far. Was she okay with keeping it like that? Did she want something more now? Even as her little heart called for the risk to be taken, the looming threat of rejection felt sword hanging over her head.

Her thoughts ran in circles for a time, until it was time to go out on patrol.

-

This was the night they would catch the Cat Burglar. Today the thief had decided to hit another historical exhibit. The heroes had been a lot more careful than their previous attempts. Ladybug was in a security office, watching the camera’s usually off during the day. Her hands fiddled with the museums fuse box. Most of the switches had been switched off, with the exception of the one for the security office. 

Chat was already in the room prepared to ambush the man. 

“I’m ready when you are Chat...” she spoke into her earbud. 

Chat nodded, jumping up into sight “Ha! Caught you again villain!” 

Ladybug chuckled shaking her head, that cat loved to ham it up. 

The robber staggered back, awkwardly dragging his spoils with him,“My, you sure are persistent aren’t you? Your girlfriend late? Or did she ditch you?” he went for his knife, “At least she won’t see you act the fool a third time,” he swung the knife in the air and Chat rushed forward staff in hand, seemingly too late to prevent his escape yet again.

The man had a smirk on his face as his body again started to get consumed by shadow. A smirk matched by the one on Ladybug’s as she threw half a dozen fuse switches. The screen briefly flashed white as the cameras adjusted to every light in the museum were flipped on. As the camera adjusted she saw the briefly bewildered face of the robber before Chat slammed his staff into the man’s torso, sending him tumbling across the ground

_ Excellent, now Chat just needs to break his akumatized item and- _

The robber recovered from the hit and swung back, his blade aimed at Chat’s chest, forcing Chat to beat a hasty retreat.

_ Oh, right, he still has a knife. _

Chat was fending off the robber while cutting off his path to the exit. He was still weary of getting in close, making wide swings of his staff while keeping his distance. The man didn’t give him a chance to recover, but he was getting worn down as the staff him him again and again.  

What he didn’t expect was Ladybug rushing into the room from behind him, swinging her yoyo in a wide arc. The cord wrapped around his ankles and with a pull he fell collapsing to the floor, his dagger scattering to the ground ahead of him.

“No!” he shouted trying to get up but was unable to get his legs under him. 

Ladybug grinned in victory. She placed one foot on his back to hold him down, while she reclaimed her yoyo. It felt good to be back on top of things. Good guys win, bad guys lose. “Okay Chat, destroy it!” 

“At your command my lady.” He took up the knife in one hand casually, flipping it in his hand in a show of finesse. He held the knife in his hand ready to crush it in a cataclysm but his determination seemed to wane, “Cat… Cata...” his eyes grew distant as he become lost in thought.

A familiar sense of dread came over Ladybug, “Chat? Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah...” he said not taking his eyes off the knife in his hands.

Ladybug prepared herself for a second half to this fight. “Not, mind controlled?” 

That shook him and he looked back at her again “What, no!” he shook his head “I was just thinking…. we could use this, it could really help in finding Hawk Moth. We could go unseen and find where he’s hiding!” he said his face lighting up at the possibility.

Ladybug looked at him speaking slowly and incredulously, “By what? Breaking into random people’s homes until we find a evil lair?”

“Well...” his face fell, “No- not necessarily...”

“Then how?” she asked, to which Chat had no answer to, “Chat, destroy it. Please.”

The robber shook his head desperately, “No, don’t! I can do so much more with it!” he struggled to get up but remained firmly under Ladybugs bootheel. Ladybug just gestured at him as proof that whatever chat was thinking, it was a terrible idea. 

Chat nodded seemingly convinced. He scowled down at the object and tossed it in the air, “CATACLYSM!” the dark energy of destruction pooled around his off hand. The knife came down he swung at it with his claws. 

As the knife started to disintegrate Ladybug spun up her yoyo, ready for the satisfaction of purifying the akuma and saving the day. It would be a great way to cap off a frustrating first week of school. 

But as the knife fell to ash, what came out wasn’t the purple corrupted akuma that carried out Hawk Moths malicious energy. It wasn’t the personality twisting butterfly that they had been struggling with for over a year now.  _ However _ , it was familiar. 

A pure white butterfly fluttered in the air, confused for a moment before fluttering towards an open window.

Ladybug stopped spinning her yoyo just watching the butterfly leave. Both her and Chat  looked back down at the robber who hadn’t change back to a gentler less villainous person. He didn’t even seem to be confused or out of place. Just angry and distraught over the destruction of his knife. 

“Huh.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I lied, I need one little epilogue chapter to cap this off. I'll hopefully have it up by the weekend. 
> 
> In any case I hope anyone who took the time to read this has enjoyed this set up fic. 
> 
> There will be a little more shippy stuff in later fics in the series, but for now its mainly about setting up the ground work for those stories.


	3. A Deal

The door to the massage door parlor opened, letting out a string of soothing eastern music. An old lady came shuffling out with a relaxed smile on her face. “Goodbye Ms. Beaumont. Same time next week?” the old lady nodded a wrinkly smile on her face before she shuffled out of the parlor. As she left he turned to Marinette, a smile on his face “Ah, Marinette and what do I owe this visit?” he asked walking back into the parlor, inviting her to follow.

Marinette followed inside, closing the tall ornate door behind her. Tikki fluttered out of her jacket “Hello, Master Fu, I know this isn’t our usual meeting time but we had to see you” Tikki apologized.

“Is it about that recent villain?” he asked, setting a pot up to boil and two mugs for tea.

“Yes, actually! How did you know?” Marinette said surprised.

“It’s been all over the news. Seems like you and Chat were having trouble with him. Congratulations on another victory against Hawk Moth,” Fu nodded approvingly to Marinette as he continued to busy himself in the kitchen. 

“Well that’s just it… I don’t think Hawk Moth was actually involved this time” she said,

Master Fu looked at her curiously, “Did a mundane burglar really evade you for a whole week?”

“No, he had a power but...” Marinette paused “but it wasn’t an akuma. Or maybe it was?” she scratched her head. “It was, but at the same time, it wasn’t?”

The kettle began to hum its tune and he quietly prepared two mugs for the both of them. He gestured for her to rest on his massage mat, “Tell me what happened…”

Marinette went through the events of the last week. Master Fu listened patiently for the most part, only interrupting occasionally to get something clarified in Marinette’s frenzied retelling. How the villain had no interest in their miraculous’. How he slipped past them both times and the strange shadow world she visited.

“Then after Chat destroyed the knife, no akuma came out. Just a white butterfly.” Marinette finished shaking her head, “I didn’t have to purify it or anything.”

Master Fu nodded taking a last gulp of his now finished tea. “Interesting. It sounds like you have encountered an artifact.”

“An artifact?” Marinette asked, trying not to sound anxious. 

“Tell me Marinette, what do you know about the Moth Miraculous?”

“Oh, Um.” Marinette paused, “It is controlled by the aspect of generosity, and it can give others super powers. It’s how Hawk Moth turns people evil and makes them super villains.”

“Yes, true, in Hawk Moths hands that has become its purpose.” Master Fu conceded, “However, how do you think it has worked without a corrupt wielder.” Master Fu reached out for a tablet that was the source of soothing music in the room. 

“I never really thought about it.” she shrugged.

“While many heroic legends can track their origins to the other miraculous’, many more have the Nooroo and his partners to thank.” Master Fu opened the tablet and started to look through the photos he had taken of the miraculous spellbook. “If Hawk Moth preys on people's pettiness and weakness. The past users would build up their ideals and strength,” he came to a section of the book dedicated to the Moth miraculous. 

After the entry for each hero were detailed pictures of items of all shapes and sizes. As he swiped to a new page Marinette recognized one of the items. In a beautiful sketch of soft shading and colors was the knife Chat had destroyed the night before.

“There! That’s the knife.” she said and Master Fu nodded sagely.

“Yes I see.” Master Fu said, “You see without the need to stop them, the heroes made by the Moth Miraculous tended to be active a lot longer than the villains you defeat. Many might live a full life without their item of power ever being broken,” he explained.

“So the knife was once wielded by hero?” Marinette asked wondering what kind of hero needed such a sketchy item.

“Yes. Once its wielder passes on an artifact can be wielded by anyone.”

“Anyone!?” Marinette did some quick math. Hawkmoth had made dozens of villains in the past year alone. Hundreds of these artifacts must be lying around! “Is-Isn’t that irresponsible? Shouldn’t the wielder of the Moth miraculous, like… take back the power?”

Master Fu chuckled “Kwami of generosity, remember? It wouldn’t be very generous to repossess powers once you have used someone as your champion would it?”

“I suppose,“ Marinette agreed reluctantly.

“The guardians collected what we could of the artifacts, but they had a tendency to end up in peoples hands anyways.” he said with a shrug, “It is rarely a problem. You see, the artifacts in addition to imparting their powers, also imbue their wielders with their original owners ideals.”

Marinette blanched at that, “Which heroes ideals involved robbing exactly?”

Master Fu laughed, “I’m sure I don’t know. Morals and beliefs have a tendency to drift over time,” he closed his tablet looking over to Marinette with a smile. “And who knows, perhaps there is something about this… ‘Cat Burglar’ we don’t know about?”

* * *

 

Chat Noir landed on the roof of the police headquarters. It was just after sundown, and only one member of the task force was up here, getting things set up for another night on watch. 

“Oh, wow Chat Noir! Welcome, what brings you here so early?” 

“Oh you know, I thought I might drop in at my favorite precinct” he smiled and the man looked a little star struck, something Chat had become very used to. After an awkward silence he coughed into his glove and smiled at the agent “So, is Agent Danton around right now?”

“Oh, of course, here let me take you to him!” the man scrambled to put away the papers he had been handling and speed walked toward the roof access door. 

They went down the six floor building in short order. The officers called and cheered as they went, congratulating him on catching the thief. Chat graciously stopped to shake a few hands and say a few encouraging words. All in a day for a superhero. 

Eventually he was led all the way down to the ground level of the building. Danton was standing in a huddle with other officers. He caught sight of Chat and scowled briefly looking at his phone’s clock, “Why are you here so early?”

“Are we doing away with pleasantries so soon Dandy?”

Danton stared at him letting the question, and nickname, hang in the air for a moment. Dark rings circled his eyes, “Hello Chat. How are you? Me? I’m  _ very  _ busy trying to do my job on four hours of sleep and as many coffee’s,” Chat noticed a slight jitter in his arm.

“Right, uh, sorry. I was hoping I could talk to the prisoner?” Chat asked.

“No.” Danton deadpanned. Chat pouted. Danton sent off his subordinates with a file, before gesturing at Chat to follow him, “that doesn’t have anything to do with my sour mood by the way. You’re not a trained interrogator and we need information from him.”

“Just a little?” Chat weedled “I wanted to ask him about the knife.“

“Absolutely not.”

“You know, commissioner Gordon would have let Batman interrogate the Joker” Chat huffed.

“Are you talking about  _ The Dark Knight _ ? Because that scene ends with Batman chokeslamming an unarmed man across a room,” He stopped at a door giving Chat a raised brow. 

“He was a supervillain!” Danton continued to stare, hand on the doors handle, “Okay, bad example.” Chat admitted. 

Danton opened a door that was the observation room for interrogations.

“Here, you can sit and watch a professional at work.” He said straightening his ruffled uniform. Chat walked in a little awkwardly nodding to a few of the other officers in the room. The robber, Mr. Legrand, was cuffed to a bolted down metal table. Cameras watched him from all sides. At the moment he was slumped in his chair looking drained.

As Danton opened the door, he perked up sitting up with a smug smile on his face “Ah, are you the next person who's gonna try and get me to give up where my stash is?” he asked and Danton seemed to ignore him, sitting across with an unsettlingly calm presence. “Cause I’ll tell you the same I told the last guy. I blew it all. On booze and blow. Top shelf stuff.” he said leaning back with a smile. Danton who still hadn’t said anything started to thumb through the manilla folder in his hands, “Not much of a conversationalist, are you?” still no response. The man shook his head looking incredulous at the two way mirror shouting at the glass. “Did the police start hiring mimes?”. Danton started to slowly pull out sheets of paper and putting them on the table, “what's all this?”

“Their donation receipts,” Danton, set the rest of the folder aside and started to clean his glasses in a calm almost… intimidating manner. “Have you heard that over the last week or so, several charitable organizations; orphanages, soup kitchens, shelters; have been given large donations from and anonymous source. He’s been the feel good story of the week.” 

“Yeah, he’s been stealing my air time.” the man shrugged, “What's it got to do with me?”

“Well. When we couldn’t find any sign of everything you stole, I started wondering where it all could have gone.” Danton placed his cracked glasses back on his face staring coldly at the man, “Then I thought about the coincidence of your first robbery, and the anonymous donations starting at the same time… I think all the money you earned went right here.” he said, tapping the receipts in front of him. 

The robber shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “you- you really think I would go through all the trouble of robbing these places and give it all-?”

“Yes.” Danton cut him off, “I didn’t at first of course, I thought they were all fronts somehow for laundering the money. But no matter how hard my people look, there’s was no evidence of foul play. It wasn’t too hard to link the bank account you donated from back to you. It  _ was _ rather rushed after all.” Danton shrugged

“So, now what?” he said back, disdain in his voice. 

“Now, your going to give me the names or descriptions of everyone who you sold the art and artifacts to.”

The Cat Burglar laughed shaking his head, “Now why, in god’s name, would I do that?”

“Because if you do, I will take this file,” he swept the receipts from the table and tucked them back into the folder, “and I’ll find a dark dusty corner for it to be forgotten in,” he said with a smile. 

Chat frowned, “He can’t promise that can he?”

“You can’t promise that you snake.” the robber said, unconvinced.

“Can’t I? A lot of this” he shook the file, “Right now is hearsay, gossip, nothing solid. I’d need a lot more to make a solid case out of it. But if I had a better lead to chase, say Paris’ black market, well.” he spread his hands, “I would have to prioritize, wouldn’t I?”

The robber scoffed “And the mayor will just let you get away with that?”

“Mayor Bourgeois?” Danton cackled, “If it wasn’t my idea, he’d order it! You think he wants every headline in the city to read ‘Mayor’s New Task Force Robs Orphans Blind’?” Danton said with a knowing smile, “Really, the only thing worse would be the news that he was unable to recover the art and historical artifacts. Weak on crime and all. At that point he’d smear those charities until the public wanted him to take back the money.” 

“He can’t do that!” the man said, incensed. 

“Oh I assure you he can, he is very practiced at tearing down his opponents. How do you think he keeps getting elected?” 

Mr. Legrand  was silent to that, looking a little more desperate than before.

Danton took out a notepad and a pen, “Mr. Legrand, make this a win-win. Tell me who you sold the items to. The mayor gets his headline, I get to catch some bigger fish, and the poor and downtrodden of Paris get a meal and a warm bed tonight.” Danton started to absently tap the notepad with a pen. 

"And  _ I _ go to Jail,” he looked up at Danton “Doesn’t sound like much of a win for me.”

“If you want a personal win Mr. Legrand I’m sure I could get you a deal for your cooperation. But I only have so much clout. I can cover for you or those charities, but not both.” Mr. Danton smiled much more genuinely for a moment, “but I have a feeling we both know which you will choose.”

Chat frowned at the two men. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. His fights against Hawk Moth and the akumatized had been so straight forward, so black and white. This was… harder.

Legrand stayed silent for a time holding Danton’s gaze. After a minute or two Danton shrugged his shoulders, pocketing his pen and standing from the table. 

“Wait.” Legrand bit his lip, his teeth clenched, "Ms. Daniels…” he started his tone ice cold, “She runs the orphanage on 14th street” for a moment he seemed to tremble in anger “If I see one disparaging word about her work. One falsehood peddled against her good nature, I swear upon all that is holy I will-!” his voice became heated, uneven as furious tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

“Not a word… with your help, of course.”

Chat felt a ping of sympathy for the man. Seeing how personally he took to the caregivers defense. Chat Remembered his kind mother and all she had meant to him.

The man settled back down, wiping any evidence he had been about to cry and taking a few steadying breaths. “Okay. Here’s where you’ll want to start...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is chapter 3 it was really meant to be a bit shorter than the other ones but whoops. 
> 
> In any case that wraps up the Shade Knife, what is hopefully the first in a series I plan on doing.
> 
> Is the concept interesting? Let me know in the comments and leave a Kudo's if you enjoyed the fic. 
> 
> If you are interested in knowing when the first chapter of the next fic is out, please subscribe to the Artifacts Arc Series. 
> 
> Have a great day and thanks for reading :)


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